14-day Quarantine Questions, Future Arrival Testing

KevinS

Senior Insider
This article from Today's Le Journal de Saint-Barth ( https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com/ ) talks about 14-day arrival quarantines (La Quatorzaine in French, translated to fortnight by Google), recent arrivals, and possible future testing of arrivals to the island. While there may not be answers, it's interesting to read.

Translation by Google Translate:

The fortnight upon arrival raises questions, future incoming screening tests too

Since March 23, 300 travelers have arrived on the island by air, and twenty-one boats at anchor in Gustavia. No cases were obviously imported among these entrants. Yet at the fortnight, Saint-Barth chose moderation, unlike most overseas territories. This measure cannot last forever. Authorities are working on the border testing protocol.

Admittedly, the system is not impermeable: it is well known that among those entering the airport, despite the recommendations and the monitoring carried out by the authorities, many have spurned fortnightly. We also know that some entered the island for a professional reason, while their presence was not an absolute necessity; and that these people have often flown directly to their workplace, the employer not necessarily being open to the idea of ​​paying 14 days for workers who stay at home.

Likewise, at the port, we know that some boats entered without authorization or compelling reason. This was the case on May 1: the story of this couple arriving by sailboat from Martinique, without authorization, and wandering around Gustavia where the harbor master's office was closed due to a public holiday, went around the island.

If some people fall through the cracks, we should not see surges of "American tourists" where there are none. Authorities refused to allow people wishing to confine themselves to the island to board the aircraft or drop the anchor. Example with this major student cloistered in the United States, who wanted to join his parents' house on the island. His request was rejected, the reason being linked to comfort, therefore not imperative.

300 people at the airport, 21 boats at the port

Here are the official figures: between March 23 and May 14, 300 people entered Saint-Barthélemy via Remy de Haenen Airport, with Air Antilles and St Barth Commuter in large numbers. Over the same period, 488 people left the island.

On the port side, nineteen pleasure boats received the approval of the authorities to come to Saint-Barthélemy, between March 18 and May 11. On board, residents returning to the fold, short stopovers for the time to refuel, families with children in a state of emergency. Seven other ships were refused by the prefecture and the management of the port. Finally, two boats arrived without authorization and were checked a posteriori.

Yachts could come for fun

What about yachts? Four are currently present, three of whom were already there before the confinement, and one last arrived at the end of March with an authorization, from Saint-Kitts. On these floating villas, the protocol is easier to follow: the crew and passengers have everything they need on board to perform a fortnight at anchor.

The port of Gustavia has already received other requests for yachts anchored in the region, which wish to come to Saint-Barthélemy. From this week, he opens their doors to them, on condition that they adhere to a strict fortnight: nobody dismounts for 14 days, the administrative formalities, the supply and unloading of the bins, in particular, will be carried out by a shipping agent ashore. The protocol has not yet been officially signed, but it has already agreed to everyone (Community, prefecture, port, shipping agents).

These large boats would therefore be the first to be able to come to the island without compelling reasons. Once their fourteen days on board, they can get off and enjoy the shops, restaurants and bars open, without difficulty.

Fortnight, a limited-time measure

What is certain is that the fortnight, whether "gentle" as in Saint-Barthélemy, or strict as in Guadeloupe or Reunion (a device considered unconstitutional by the Elders), will not be able last forever. Untenable in the long term, and even more so with the approach of summer vacations. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that the French could travel throughout the national territory, including overseas, in July and August. Inconsistent with the idea of ​​spending 14 days cloistered, whether in a hotel or at home.


Triple test or fourteen divided

The government is actively working on this subject, in conjunction with the territories. Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, launched a lead last week on Public Senate: "You are doing a test fourteen days before your departure, you would do one, maybe be, the day before or the same morning, and another seven days later, to make sure, at all times, that you are not a carrier. The work is underway, because we have to make sure that on the health side, from a scientific point of view, it makes sense. The logic of the fortnight, even if it is done in a residence that we know, is very demanding. "

Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, Secretary of State for Transport, gave a new lead Monday, May 18, detailing what he calls a “health corridor”: a fortnight carried out half before departure, half on arrival - it is reserved metropolitan arriving in the overseas territories, but not overseas arriving in metropolitan France- combined with several Covid-19 screening tests. "As we have differentiated local strategies, it seems to me that the possibility of setting up a health corridor in a very territorialized way would meet these locally carried objectives," he explained to the deputies. Last week, Michel Magras, like other parliamentarians, asked that the fortnight be imposed only on people who test positive for Covid-19 when they arrive in the territory. Refusal by Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, who questions the reliability of the tests.
Saint-Barthélemy has equipped itself with a Cepheid screening machine, with a capacity of sixteen tests in about an hour. Sixteen is roughly the number of passengers on a plane. The idea of ​​setting up a test area at the airport was abandoned in favor of the "drive", where arrivals would be taken. For the port, it is even more delicate. Even by reducing their number of seats, the ferries will disembark in the small ferry terminal far more than sixteen passengers at a time. The equipment does not seem spacious enough to accommodate a test and waiting area; however, in case one of the small halls at the ferry terminal has been fitted out for this purpose.

It remains to be defined what we will do with the tourist who arrives and is detected positive. Unable to put it back on the plane or boat with other passengers; will it be confined to a hotel, villa, accommodation center? Taken in charge by the hospital, according to his state of health? What about people who have traveled with him? The questions are numerous, and the answers are not obvious.
 
More on testing, quarantine, and arrivals testing, this in an interview with President Magras, which is published in today's Le Journal de Saint-Barth ( https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com/ )

Be careful with the context of "I confirm it to you." in the last paragraph. I've read it multiple times in both French and translated English. It's not clear to me exactly what is being confirmed, that all is not clear on the State side, or that St Barth may hope to open it's borders with other French territories on or before July 1. (There is no reference to opening external borders, such as travelers from the US.) I'm reading it as a confirmation that all is not clear on the State side.

Translation by Google Translate:

Testing the entire population "is no longer justified"

The idea of ​​testing the entire population using the GeneXpert machine has come to the fore, since all indicators of virus circulation are at their lowest, according to the President of the Community Bruno Magras. Above all, the machine must be used to support the reopening of borders. But the protocol still lacks precision, and the state is hesitant about what to do.

Are we really going to test the entire population, as had been announced, with the PCR test? Do you find it useful today?

No. For the moment from my point of view, this is no longer justified. It has been more than fifty days since a Covid case has been detected on the island. It would be wasting time unnecessarily. Unless of course, if the epidemic were to start again, which I don't believe.
However, those who want to be tested can do so at their own expense. It costs them € 88.53 and for an uninsured Social Security, € 125.
It seems that an agreement is being discussed between the ARS and the doctors at Pointe-à-Pitre airport for the tests to be reimbursed at 100% for the insured. But I’m not sure about that.

What about serological tests, which will allow them to find out who had the virus or not?

No serological test has yet been approved by the Ministry of Health. We are awaiting confirmation from the Institut Pasteur. The famous TRODs are not very reliable. That said, we have confirmed the order for a new device which would be very reliable. As of its reception the laboratory will be equipped with it and will thus be able to practice serological tests.

Will these famous tests be accessible one day without a medical prescription, if the patient pays the bill?

Yes, they already are. Even PCR virology testing is available without a prescription to anyone who agrees to pay the price. Some tests have been performed by the laboratory.

Can we force a French or foreign tourist to undergo a test upon entering the territory?

No, we cannot force people to get tested. We can recommend it to them. In case of refusal they are logically bound to the famous fortnight.

What do we do with the arrivals while they wait for the results?

They must confine themselves to their homes while waiting.
It was to avoid this constraint that during the videoconference, I proposed to the President of the Republic the idea of ​​asking visitors, a test 48 hours before arrival and to make a second one on arrival. It was refused. We have proposed to the State, a new protocol aiming to practice a double test a few days apart. Between the two, arrivals are of course supposed to remain confined for a few days while waiting for the final result which exempts them from the fortnight. For the moment we have no feedback from the State on our proposal.

If a passenger on an airplane is positive on arrival, what do we do with them, and what do we do with the people who traveled with them?

If a passenger tests positive on arrival, he must be confined to his villa or hotel or to the accommodation center that we made available to the ARS from the start of the epidemic.
That said, the Collectivity is not intended to interfere in medical practices. The tests and the follow-up are the responsibility of healthcare professionals.

All this is therefore not yet clearly defined with the State; nevertheless the Prime Minister announces metropolitan / overseas vacations from July 1; and perhaps Saint-Barth hopes to open its borders before this date?

I confirm it to you. All this is not yet clear on the state side. Nevertheless I do not think that French or Europeans can go to Guadeloupe on vacation and could not come to Saint-Barth. Besides, I understand that all Europeans in the Schengen area can already go to France.
 
Its like the blind leading the blind.

Mankind has polluted the oceans, polluted the air, but wait mankind is not finished yet.....there are still a few places left on earth that does not have the corona virus, so it seems there is a mission to complete the process of contamination, the tourists wish to come to sbh against all odds. After all we look like a safe haven since there is no longer any covid-19 on the island.

And all of you worried about the economy, wait till the virus takes off on this small island, the french navy may arrive to help out with the sick and dying but then the borders will be locked down tight again and for a much longer time than if the island waited until October to open. Do you think the economy will not suffer if the virus takes off here? I am not sure what the hurry is as several hotels here are not calling back their staff until november anyway as they are thinking if they do and the island gets shut down again because of the virus, it would be worse than waiting.



when a lot of students arrived from the states/canada in april to be with their parents during the confinement, I saw many who did not quarantine for any time at all, much less the 14 days requirement. I even asked one of them, why are you out? should you not be at home since you just arrived I asked. He just laughed and said, the confinement will not be enforced so why should we stay home.

If the island opens early, and from listening to island 92 this morning, sxm is hoping to open on July 1. how will the island enforce any of the rules such as the 14 day confinement or make sure someone comes back for a test. the island cannot even enforce this on their own residents now.
 
Nothing like a good Venn diagram to tell the story of this confinement, deconfinement.

98190866_10158122148221063_7899131768643518464_n.jpg

A tip of the hat to GalyeR
 
Be careful with the context of "I confirm it to you." in the last paragraph. I've read it multiple times in both French and translated English. It's not clear to me exactly what is being confirmed, that all is not clear on the State side, or that St Barth may hope to open it's borders with other French territories on or before July 1. (There is no reference to opening external borders, such as travelers from the US.) I'm reading it as a confirmation that all is not clear on the State side.

I confirm it to you. All this is not yet clear on the state side. Nevertheless I do not think that French or Europeans can go to Guadeloupe on vacation and could not come to Saint-Barth. Besides, I understand that all Europeans in the Schengen area can already go to France.


I'm reading it as a confirmation that all is not clear on the State side. --> correct.

I believe it should have been written like this: "I confirm it to you, all this is not yet clear on the state side".
 
Top